About cindy

for the past couple of years the cucumbers in my parents garden have been coming in like crazy … so i learned how to pickle. last year it was just bread & butter pickles, but this year i am expanding my pickle horizons. so far along with bread & butter pickles i have made dill pickles and jars and jars of relish.

to keep everything organized i have been using stickers. the mix&match and simply drawn stickers in my shop are the perfect fit for regular canning lids and the large stickers work great with the wide mouth jars.

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thinking about the upcoming school year yet? you can start planning from this august until december 2012 with the new academic monthly planners in my etsy shop. these simple and sweet planners are cute enough to leave out on your desk and small enough to carry with you.

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inspired by the tv show, dc cupcakes my niece wanted to make some cupcakes and top them with ganache. it is the first time i made it. turns out it is super easy to make and only uses two ingredients – chocolate and cream.

in a pan on the stove bring heavy cream to a boil. as soon as it starts to boil take the pan off the heat and stir the chocolate in. keep stirring until all of the chocolate is melted. now you have ganache. we let it sit for a bit to cool off until it was the perfect consistency for dipping the cupcakes.

once the ganache was ready to use, i was shown the proper way to frost cupcakes with the ganache. you simply dip the cupcakes in the frosting, twist a bit and the pull them out. the perfect frosted cupcakes. after letting the cupcakes sit for a bit the ganache firmed up and left a shiny coating.

my little niece stopped by and helped add blue chocolate buttons (and do a little taste testing). she gave the cupcakes the thumbs up.

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with summer around the corner it is time to start thinking about end of the year gifts for teachers. the starter gift set has been a favorite for years – with personalized note cards and notepads any teacher would appreciate a set. i’m sure a set of stickers or a notebook designed just for them would also be happily accepted.

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For the last couple of months or so I have been working on a redesign of my website. More products and new pattern and color options. Today I took a bunch of photos and here’s a little peek at what is to come.

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Yellow used to be my favorite color. Growing up I had yellow walls. But the yellow countertops in my kitchen looked dated and out of place. Turns out the wallpaper was the problem. It was dark blue and had little baskets full of flowers all over it. White paint was the answer (I think it always is).

Underneath the blue wallpaper there was another layer of wallpaper – an orange and gold diamond pattern – and that wallpaper was not going anywhere. On the walls above the counters there was a laminate that had specs of orange and yellow in it. Since the laminate didn’t hold paint and the orange wallpaper was not coming down, new wallpaper seemed like the only option.

Wallpaper is not my favorite thing. It is a hassle to take down and I think allover pattern is a bit too busy, but I found this beadboard wallpaper that works perfectly. It adds texture to cover up the uneven walls and is paintable so if I ever want to change the white it won’t be a problem. To make the yellow countertops look like part of a plan I bought these photos. The countertops now look fresh and brighten up the dark kitchen.

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For a couple of years I have seen cake pops around the web. After seeing these last week I knew that they would be a fun project with my nieces and nephew. There were a few technical issues in the beginning, and probably should have looked for a recipe before making them, but in the end everything worked out. We had a nice time and I am told they taste like candy coated chocolate munchkins.

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Helping start a baby’s library is a great idea for a baby shower. I have made bookplates for a few showers and recently someone needed bookplates for a Petter Rabbit themed shower. I made a little watercolor rabbit and added a background of stars. These went out with the invitations in a little glassine bag with a simple note on a sticker. I also made up a set off coordinating thank you cards for the mom-to-be.

With room to write who the book is from on the stickers the new baby will quickly have a library created by their loved ones.